OT: has anyone ever made a complaint to the Attorney General office?

Ive had a disaster of a time with a kitchen remodel with Lowes. I asked for some kind of refund and they have refused. So i made a complaint with the attorney general office. Has anyone done something similar? Any idea or advice how this goes?? Thanks for any tips or help.

Comments

Have you called corporate? Do you have evidence of screw ups? This is a private matter which means the AG probably won’t do anything besides log your complaint. You need a civil attorney or to talk to corporate and explain what happened. Gather as much evidence as possible through pictures, receipts, text messages about the issues to friends and family. All of it would help your case.

I had a situation with a flooring company where I didn’t receive all the flooring I paid for. I called corporate and ended up getting the balance and some extra store credit for the mix up.

Try leaving them poor google and yelp reviews. 1 star reviews often get responses from the company. Or rate the product or service on the Lowe’s website. Those sometimes get responses too. Thanks for the heads up by the way. There’s isn’t a Lowe’s that close to where I live, but I will twice before using them.

I echo the social media angle. It has worked for us several times when phone calls or emails were ignored. Most companies have people monitoring social media for this stuff and their job is to kill any negative PR out there.

Depending upon your persistence level and ability to work to upper level management, that is where I head if I have a problem that I think is overlooked. Have full documentation of your problem and objectively be reasonable in your assessment of the problem. If you get to the right person, and your request is reasonable, you can get a good result.

I have never made a complaint, but I did shy away from the big box home repair stores for carpeting based on reviews I've seen ( I'm having carpeting replaced after the painting is completed, mentioned in the previous thread).

Basically, it seems that stores like Lowes and Home Depot give you a list of contractors to do install, but don't stand behind their work--it's up to you to work out with the contractor. The complaints I have seen often revolve around a dispute between the manufacturer and contractor as to who is at fault when a product fails, and the big box stores seem not to want to get involved.

The installers have been pretty good. They even agreed with me that lowes has made numerous mistakes and that kraftmaid has sent me below grade products. Kraftmaid said the product is fine yet the installers have said they have never seen doors with more spilts in the doors than the ones i have gotten numerous times now.

I did once get a letter from the AG regarding my small business so I do know they take action.

(The letter was from the AG regarding a customer who submitted my company and thought my business has something to do with another business in Lansing but I do not do business there and have nothing to do with that business)

I had to call on my propane company a few years back. They basically promised to look into it and never did. When I mentioned my call to the AG and the Better Business Bureau though, I made some major progress and was reimbursed in full.

We have an underground metered propane system, which you would normally see up here in northern Michigan with natural gas, and a few years ago in February it got so cold that the gas wouldn’t vaporize, causing lower pressure into my furnace and causing a failure and carbon monoxide being pumped into my house. The propane company fought it initially until ultimately admitting that it was a terrible system and that they were in fact at fault. Got a check for a little over 6 grand for a new furnace.

Call the building inspector. They'll red tag any bad work and if that fails, file a complaint with LARA. See MCL 339.601 et seq, re: licensed building requirements and following manufacturers and code requirements.

If the AG gets enough complaints they will investigate. The AG route is more to log the complaint and keep general counts of the number of complaints. If they are doing this all over the state, there should be other examples.

That's not how it works in the building industry. I have handled literally hundreds of construction related cases in this state and out west and am a licensed contractor and I've ever not seen your suggestion bear fruit for the aggrieved.

No, it's the way wrong answer and the building inspector wouldn't do anything except possibly tell you you cant live in the dwelling until it's fixed. A building inspector really has no pull to revoke a contractor's certification, especially here where the contractor is saying its the product vendor.

If it were me I would try the social media angle, or small claims court. Nothing else is likely to get you any quick response.

I would go the Better Business Bureau route. I've used that for 2 occasions and received an excellent response both times. A company will respond as the complaint is public record on the BBB website (as will their response).

I think lodging a complaint with the Better Business Bureau will prove more useful. Then perhaps bringing said complaint to the attention of the Corporate Office. Gotta believe the AG's office has bigger fish to fry,